Who I learned from · 2020–2021
Zied Etleb
Zied runs Curiato, a Kitchener-Waterloo health-tech company, and I enjoyed working with him. He would pick my brain on problems he was working through at Curiato, always tried to put structure around things for me, and taught me to build for a result rather than for passion.
- Who
- Zied Etleb
- Role
- Co-founder, Curiato
- To me
- Curiato’s CEO, who taught me to build for a result rather than for passion.
- When
- 2020–2021
Who Zied is
Co-founder of Curiato, a Waterloo digital-health company that uses sensor data and AI to help hospitals prevent pressure injuries, and its CEO in the years I knew Zied best. Zied graduated with distinction from the University of Waterloo (BSc 2016, MBET 2017) and co-founded Hack4Health, the university’s first healthcare hackathon.
How it started
In September 2020 Zied sat me down about Limelight. The advice was simple and I treated it as gospel: focus on results, keep your environment right, and do not burn out. The same day, when I was about to make a rash call about a partner, Zied pointed me toward managing on results instead.
What I learned
To build for a result, not for passion. Zied would pick my brain on problems he was working through at Curiato, and he always tried to put structure around things for me. He introduced me to other smart people at his office, and let me see how trials are run.
Work he sent my way
Zied also sent independent work my way. When he had a contract that needed finishing, sometimes for a company in China, he would pass it to me, and it put quick cash in my pocket.
Hiring for the problem
In October 2021 we jointly funded a PhD software engineer and a data scientist to build an algorithmic trading system, splitting the cost. It was my first time directing a research-grade team instead of writing every line myself, and it taught me to scope AI and data work by the result it has to produce, then cut what is not needed.